Apple takes down “no girls allowed” sign over boardroom

Change at the top of Apple is not an everyday occurrence. Obviously the company has enjoyed the same CEO for over ten years now, and its board and top-level officers are slow to turn over—not counting the Fred and Nancy show, of course.

So it's with a heartfelt welcome that Infinite Loop celebrates Andrea Jung's appointment to a position at the controls of the mothership. Ms. Jung is the CEO and chairman of Avon, a company whose products presumably need no introduction to most of you. She joined Avon in 1994 as head of product marketing, and has served as CEO since 1999.

Andrea joins a semi-distinguished list that includes luminaries like Al Gore, former 10th-level Vice President; Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google and part-owner of a jet that our own Jon Stokes rode on once; Millard "Mickey" Drexler, who probably has all the comfortable casual sweaters he could ever want or need at this point, and Bill Campbell, who in his spare time runs a company that produces software to help you tidy up your desktop.

What does it mean for Apple? Well, first of all, this knocks down one longstanding complaint against the company's perceived lack of diversity at the top, so now instead of a bunch of rich white guys, there's a bunch of rich white guys and a rich Asian woman. Progress on the march! More directly, though, it may represent an attempt to create new ways of reaching out to a heretofore-undertapped market. And speaking of undertapped markets, did we mention she speaks fluent Mandarin?

Obviously there won't be massive changes overnight, except maybe for fewer fart jokes during board meetings. But consider this: Mr. Drexler joined the board in 1999. Two years later, Apple opened its first retail store. How'd that work out for them?